Music / Caparezza

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Caparezza (born Michele Salvemini on October 9, 1973) is an Italian rapper known for his often political lyrics, serious statements expressed with unusual and ironic metaphors, nasal voice and hisFunny Afro. Influenced by Frank Zappa, Caparezza is also known for genre blendingconcept albums.

He began his musical career in 1995 under the name Mikimix, writing melodic rap/hip hop songs with little success; since 2000 he underwent a total change of appearance and style, rejecting his past and openly mocking it.

Discography - studio albums

as Mikimix:

Tengo duro (1996)

La mia buona stella (1997)

as Caparezza:

!? (2000)

Habemus Capa (2003)

Le dimensioni del mio caos (2008)

Il sogno eretico (2011)

Museica (2014)

Tropes related to the artist:

Artistic License – History: Deliberately invoked in one song. Pimpami la storia ("Pimp My History") is all about this, being sung by the perspective of schoolboys who only care about modes and having fun. More broadly it's about how history is being over-simplified for the masses, or even totally distorted to please ideologies. One example: they think the "Marshall Plan" was made by Eminem's grandfather...

The Backwards R: The video for "Avrai ragione tu", being in part a gentle spoof of Communist iconography, naturally features many of these. It also features V's in place of U's, which is more a Latin type of thing...

Call Back: The third album begins with a snippet of a song from the second album that says "mamma quanti dischi venderanno se mi spengo" (Oh my, they'll sell a lot of records if I pass away). Indeed the album satirizes, among other things, the concept of Dead Artists Are Better (see below).

CamelCase: The album covers render his stage name as "CapaRezza", however this way of writing is used almost only on That Other Wiki (the Italian version). Possibly referenced in one of his songs, when someone calls him "Mr. Rezza Capa".

Completely Missing the Point: Not Caparezza himself, but many listeners. He wrote a catchy song called "Fuori dal tunnel", about how the system is trying to uniform people's free time too... which immediately became a huge summer hit in discos and mainstream radio channels, the expressions of that "fun factory" he derided. He spoofed this in one song of his next album, when someone listens to "Fuori dal tunnel" and thinks that it's about drugs.

His song "Vieni a ballare in Puglia" ("Come dance in Apulia", the region where Capa was born) suffered the same fate. It's actually about work-related deaths (the metaphors at the beginning make it clear that "dance" really means "die"), but many people mistook it for Caparezza professing his love to Apulia. The fact that the catchy refrain is an Ear Worm doesn't help matters.

One of his 2011 songs, which mocks catastrophism and conspiracies, has been mis-interpreted as well. If Youtube comments are an indication, many people praise Caparezza for "telling the truth", taking seriously his statements about Reptilians and chem trails.

And again for his song "Legalize the Premier". Despite explicitly stating in the lyrics that it's not advocating the legalization of marijuana (the song is about politicians making stuff legal for themselves thanks to their position), several listeners assume that, since he has a left-wing point of view, he must sing about free weed for everyone.

Concept Album: Quite a few of his albums. For example, Le dimensioni del mio caos is a Rock Opera involving time-traveling hippies, aliens, and pre-evolution Bonobos. Habemus Capa is a concept abum about the idea that dead artists sell better, and Il sogno eretico has to do with the nature of dreams. His 2014 album Museica can be seen as an equivalent to Emerson, Lake & Palmer's Pictures At An Exhibition: every track was inspired by a work of art (not only paintings, but graffiti and statues as well) and the album is structured as if it was a visit in an art museum.

Darker and Edgier: His album "Il sogno eretico", a concept album whose lyrics are more pessimistic and disilluded, and that contains a very political protest track sung in his "real" voice, to signify that he's dead serious about what's singing.

Dead Artists Are Better: Caparezza viciously mocks this concept. He calls his third album "a posthumous album of a still living singer", and actually the first track spoofs people's typical reactions to artists dying (imagining himself as the dead artist). The album as a whole is a concept about him being dead and his spirit still living on until he "resurrects" at the end.

Determinator: The titular character of Eroe, Storia di Luigi Delle Bicocche (Hero, Story Of Luigi Delle Bicocche), who continues to work even though he's retired to earn a living for his family

Funny Afro: His stage name Caparezza means "Curly head" in the dialect of his hometown.

"I Want" Song: His early track "Tutto ciò che c'è" is this plus a ton of name-dropping. The lyrics are about him wanting various musicians and celebrities to do absurd and out-of-character things, and contain the line "Michael Jackson dice: Capa sei un genio!" (Michael Jackson says: Capa, you're a genius!).

Last Note Nightmare: The song "Limiti" from his second album ends with a few seconds of silence... followed by Capa screaming AIUTO! (Help!) in a distorted, screechy voice.

Lyrical Dissonance: "Vieni a ballare in Puglia" is a cheerful, lively song...about work-related deaths, devastating fires, deadly industrial pollution and the exploitation of migrant workers, problems that plague Capa's native Apulia. As noted earlier, the ironically uplifting music made several people misunderstand the song's painful message.

"Giotto Beat" from the 2014 album as well: as the title says, it sounds like a happy beat song from The '60s, but the actual lyrics are pretty pessimistic.

Music Is Politics: Referenced in his song "Chi se ne frega della musica" (Who gives a damn about music). He implies that videos, song charts, producers, talk shows are all that is important in the music business, and nobody gives a damn about the music itself.

Non-Actor Vehicle: His first, last and probably only film part was in Checco Zalone's "Che bella giornata" (which incidentally was the highest-grossing Italian film of all time) where he and his band played themselves; however he really didn't care much about it and went on to his music career.

Absolutely everywhere. Caparezza is very fond of puns and wordplay, and almost every title of his songs reflect this. Case in point: his album Il sogno eretico ("Heretic Dream"), a pun on "Erotic dream".

His 2014 album Museica takes the cake: the songs therein are inspired by works of art, and the title is a pun on "museo" (museum), "musica" (music) and "sei" (six, as this is his sixth album).

Since "otto" means "eight" in Italian, the song Giotto Beat may be another great example: as a reference to Giotto the artist (the lyrics talk about "perspective"), as a play on words to "8-bit" (Donkey Kong is mentioned), and a reference to the G8 summit (G-otto), especially the one that took place in Italy in 2001 where several protesters were brutally beaten by police officers. And it's also a throwback to the beat songs from The '60s.

Reference Overdosed: He applies a metaphor to his lyrics and takes it Up to Eleven, for example the songs Abiura di me (about his will to improve as an artist) and La marchetta di Popolino (about narrow-minded people) are disguised as huge amounts of videogame and Walt Disney references.

Once again, he did it for the first single of his 2014 album: titled "Cover", it is a long list of references to notorious album covers, which mirror his personal growth as a man and an artist.

The video for "Avrai ragione tu" contains several references to Russian and Communist-style iconography. The funniest one is a segment that replicates exactly the famous video of Eduard Khil (AKA the Trololo Guy).

Rock Opera: Le dimensioni del mio caos. A time traveling hippie ends up conforming to modern society, and the album ends with an alternate history where prehistoric Bonobos surpass humans on the evolutionary scale.

Sampling: Various examples. A notable one is his early track "La fitta sassaiola dell'ingiuria", based on a few lyrics of a song by Italian folksinger Angelo Branduardi. Funny thing is, the sampled lyrics at one point refer to the singer's hairdo - both Capa and Branduardi have, or used to have, a huge afro.

Self-Deprecation: He sometimes mocks his Mikimix persona in a few songs. Also, he says things such as he's not an artist, he comes from the gutter and so on.

Once, during a concert, he tried to give a speech, but was constantly interrupted by the doorbell. The video feed (in daylight - "What kind of time zone do they have out there?") showed himself, with an annoyed expression, still ringing.

CapaRezza: [Beat] Pretend that I'm not here, I know that guy, he never shuts up...

Testosterone Poisoning: "Un vero uomo dovrebbe lavare i piatti" mocks the concept, sarcastically listing things that only "real men" do (like being violent, treating women like objects, being sexually promiscuous, never showing emotion) and then saying that what a real man should actually do is to wash the dishes.

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